This paper is a theoretical contribution to discussions about the emancipatory potential of citizenship education across four sites (i.e. Catalonia, Colombia, England, and Pakistan). By reflecting on policy and empirical data from our four contexts of study, we discuss whether citizenship education manifests different conditions of emancipatory…

This paper seeks to examine a specific development in the history of teacher education to explore whether it might illuminate and inform contemporary debate. It offers a historical/comparative analysis of the contribution of teachers' centres to the professional development of teachers in England and Spain during the late 1960s to the early 1990s.…

The profound evolution that Spanish language education has experienced since the passing of the first modern educational law in 1970 has led to improved students' proficiency. In this sense, traditional foreign language teaching has been gradually substituted by Bilingual Education in the country to promote language learning, intercultural…

Purpose: After World War II, an educational modernization process gained ground worldwide. International organizations such as UNESCO began to play a key role in the creation, development and dissemination of a new educational vision in different countries. This article examines the origin and development of this modernization process under the…

The General Education Law was approved half a century ago. It was designed by Francoism to reform the educational system, adjusting itself to the liberal-developmental approach that Franco's regime followed in its last few decades. The oppression that the so-called "vernacular languages" were subject to during the former years of…

Purpose: The aim of this country report is to offer an overview of civic and citizenship education in Spain. Approach: The report analyses the Spanish curriculum and the current legislative framework, examining the way social and civic competences are integrated in both primary and secondary education. Additionally, the paper also examines the…

The contrasting conceptions of policy borrowing and policy learning processes in relation to education and skills have been widely debated. Nevertheless, most analyses have focused on nation states and, subsequently, cases of sub-sections of a state have been insufficiently considered. This article examines the process of modernisation of the…

An increasing number of countries are adopting accountability systems in education that rely on the external evaluation of students' learning outcomes through standardized assessments. The international dissemination of this form of accountability, often known as test-based accountability, does not imply that exactly the same policy is adopted…

In Spain since the Constitution was ratified in 1978, eight laws have been passed regulating the education system in non-university stages, thereby subjecting education to continual upheaval. In the first laws, from the 1980s and early 1990s, the debate was primarily political, but by the year 2000, coinciding with Spain's taking part in the…

It is often assumed within much of the academic literature and by many of those working in higher education that universities across Europe are homogenising, converging around an Anglo-American model as a result of neo-liberal pressures and the aim of creating a single European Higher Education Area. However, drawing on an analysis of 92 policy…

This article analyses the child psychiatry and psychology developed during the Spanish Civil War and immediate postwar period. The aim is to demonstrate that, despite the existence of a certain degree of disciplinary continuity in relation to the pre-war period, both disciplines were placed at the service of Francoism. This meant that the…

Purpose: This article presents a conceptual synthesis of the international literature on inclusive education while expanding upon, and incorporating, the articles in this special issue. The authors present their 3P model (philosophy, policy and praxis) and relate each paper in this special issue to different aspects of their model.…

This paper explores the changes in intergenerational mobility seen in Spain during the last century. It examines educational and occupational mobility, paying particular attention to the existence of a differentiated gender effect. The magnitude of the historical changes that have taken place in Spain during the twentieth century and the scarcity…

This article traces the conditions that made possible the legislation of police surveillance of schools as a "solution" to the "problems" of "convivencia" in school, during a period of social and racial diversification of Spanish society. During the 1980s and 1990s, "convivencia" -- the ideal of living…

Throughout the history of education different conceptions have been developed about the role and the function that education has in society as a whole. Such conceptions have been constructed around different discourses that show underlying social conflicts. The different educational practices acquire their legitimacy through such discourses, which…